The Toddler Sleep Problem:
Hi there, i have a 12 month old boy who just will not sleep through the night! he wakes up at least 5 times from when he goes to bed to when he gets up, often more. every time he wakes up he needs a breastfeed to settle him back to sleep, if he doesn't get it he screams and screams and gets really worked up. I've tried giving him his sippy cup with water in it instead (he won't take a bottle) but that just makes him scream harder. I've tried doing the controlled crying thing without giving him a feed when he woke up but that just made him so worked up he started to wheeze so i don't really want to do that again. he also needs to be wrapped to go to sleep because he waves his arms and legs around and won't drop off, he also wakes up a lot more if he's unwrapped. any advice on getting him to sleep through the night without giving him an asthma attack would be GREATLY appreciated. we're all in desperate need of
sleep here!
Our recommend toddler sleep solution:
The key issue to address is breaking the association your baby has between feeding and falling asleep. The longer you continue to settle him by feeding him, the more you reinforce that he thinks he needs a feed to fall asleep. Once you teach him to fall asleep without a feed, he will be able to fall asleep at bedtime, resettle himself in the night and therefore sleep through the night.
There are several key areas that may help you with this:
- Routine
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Sleeping bag & movement in bed
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Self-settling techniques
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Positive sleep associations
Routine:
This is absolutely key to getting an older baby to sleep well. Babies of his age need to know what you expect and when you